By: Jayson Schwarz LLM
Whether you are a young or an older person, having Powers of Attorney and Wills prepared are a necessary evil that every person not only should do but must do. I stress this because I have seen so many times the mess that is left behind when an individual does not take care of their affairs and a family is left trying to pull the pieces together.
Today’s article is no about your Will, it is about preparing Powers of Attorney and not just having the printed forms used. This became glaringly obvious to me lately when a man suffered a brain aneurism and his wife is in the horrible position of having to make a decision not to just “pull the plug”, but rather make the decision to stop the feeding tube leading to the death of the individual. In other words making the decision when a person will die. Pretty tough stuff!!!!
The husband should have made that decision and saved his wife from the horror and guilt of making the decision. How do we do that?
There are 2 kinds of Powers of Attorney that each of us should sign. The first is for financial matters. This Power of Attorney (POA) allows the designated attorney to conduct all financial affairs as if he or she were that person. This helps from the case of 2 broken arms where you cannot sign cheques until you are mentally incapable. Even in this POA if you want restrictions and specifics you need to have the lawyer you retain get into these details and ensure they are in the POA.
Now let’s talk about the POA for personal care. Now it gets tricky. Here is where you need to think about all of the possible problems that could occur and how you want to make the decisions on what happens in advance. As an example here is one kind of clause:
I do not wish to be kept alive for any significant period of time if I am in a vegetative state or I am being kept alive by artificial means unless there is a reasonable chance of my recovery such that I will no longer be in a vegetative state or kept alive by artificial means. Where there is no reasonable chance of recovery, I direct that I be allowed to die and not be kept alive by medications, artificial means or “heroic measures”, and I direct that any such medications, means or measures that would keep me alive in those circumstances be withheld or withdrawn. I do, however, ask that medication, means and measures be mercifully administered to me or medical or surgical procedures be taken to alleviate suffering even though this may shorten my remaining life.
Or as an example here is a list to consider: health care; nutrition; shelter; clothing; hygiene. At out firm we have arranged with either a GP or a surgeon for them to be available to review these issues and be able to discuss them with our clients as part of the process in order that we might incorporate their desires into their POA.
All in all getting this done is the best gift you can give your loved ones. Don’t wait do it now!!!!
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